Etosha National Park Namibia

I would like to continue our African Adventure with you, on our quest to witness the elusive leopard in the wild, in Etosha national park in Namibia.

So the next morning after our amazing night adventure. We got up super early to go out on our game drive in the 4×4’s.

Etosha National Park -Namibia

It was a brisk morning as we started out driving through the park. The hyenas were still out from the night before, here’s some running around.

Hyena's in Etosha National Park -Namibia
 Hyena in Etosha

A quick stop at a water hole to see if there was any thirsty animals about.

We were in search of the leopard as that will be the last one to tick off the big five list. We came across this tree.

Etosha National Park -Namibia

It had a springbok in it from an early morning leopard kill.

springbok Etosha national park

The jackals and hyenas were all hanging around like a bad smell, for any scraps from the kill. But the leopard was no where to be seen.

Springbok and jackal in Etosha national park

We waited for a while to see if the leopard would show up, but no luck. The leopard was probably watching us from a distance, so we kept our morning adventure going.

About a 10 min drive along the road we see the king of Africa just relaxing under a tree.

Lion in Etosha national park
Lion in Etosha national park

The King got up, walked closer to our car and laid down, under another tree.

Lion in Etosha national park
Lion in Etosha national park

It is so amazing to see these beasts in the wild and so close and personal

Lion in Etosha national park
Lion in Etosha national park

We pass a lake that was full of flamingos. It was an amazing sight to see all the flamingos searching for food.

Flamingos Etosha national park
Flamingos Etosha national park

Not far up the road some giraffes were grazing on some trees.

Giraffe Etosha national park

It was breath taking how much wildlife is out here.

We continue our drive through the Etosha National Park. Head from the east to the west side where we will be staying the night.

Etosha national park

Etosha has a huge salt pan that is 4731 square km and it can be seen from space.

Etosha national park salt pan

Along the way we spot a pair of lioness chilling in the grass.

lioness Etosha national park
lioness Etosha national park

They are such beautiful creatures

lioness Etosha national park

A lot of ostrich were out and about near the salt pan.

We even spotted an oryx chilling by himself. The oryx is one of my new found favourite African animals. They are like part cow, part horse, part goat and their colour scheme is on point!!

Oryx Etosha national park
Oryx Etosha national park

Some red hartebeest were getting around as well.

Driving down the road one of the guys spotted a dead zebra on the side of the road and a shadow on the other side of the road. So we slammed on the brakes and did a u-turn to check it out. As we approached the dead zebra, we noticed that there was a lioness under the tree on the other side of the road.

Covered in blood and panting like crazy. We must have just missed the kill…

Looking at the zebra it looked like it was pregnant so the lioness got the two for one combo. It was the middle of the day and there was no other lions around, so this lady must have saw the opportunity and just took it.

As we sat there she decided that she had better protect her kill, as this large object was now in her view and blocking out the kill that she just worked so hard for. She got up and crossed the road to keep an eye on it and on us.

lion kill Etosha national park

Now as I was saying all the animals see the car as one big object… unless…. you put any part of your body out of the vehicle. Only then can they adjust and see individuals inside the car. So as we were watching her with her kill, one of the girls leant out of the car to get a better photo. We were right behind the zebra and she could spot her straight away. The lioness started hissing at us and got down into a pounce position. Holy shit that was scary. The driver kicked it into reverse and we got the hell out of there. Wow.. that definitely got the heart started!

Next stop was a camp ground with a huge pool. Which was the best sounding idea as it was so damn hot! We had a lunch break and met up with the rest of our group, so we could exchange stories of our morning safari over a couple of beers.

After a refreshing swim we were back on the safari in search of the leopard…

We came across three lioness chilling together under the only tree on the plains for miles.

There is not much shade out here at all. As we were admiring these beasts, three Zebra came walking up on the other side of the road.

Luckily the zebra were down wind from the lions and the zebra picked up the scent of the lions straight away. The zebra at the front warned the others not to keep walking by making a loud sound that sort of sounds like it is clearing its throat.

The lioness looked up at them but they must have thought it was too hot and not worth the effort right now.

So these zebras lived to see another day.

We had a quick stop for a toilet break in an area that was kind of safe to exit the vehicle.

Then made our way to the campsite for the night. Every tree we passed out here always had some wildlife under it as there was not many trees out here.

springbok Etosha national park

As we came closer to the camp site we had to pass another zebra crossing.

We set up our tent

Then had some beers by the pool. What a great day out in Etosha National Park there was so much wildlife on this safari. Even though we didn’t get to see the elusive leopard, it was still a day I will never forget.

We cooked some food and watched the sunset as we had a laugh sharing stories with our group.

Another great day of our African Adventure in the books.. What an incredible day it was in Etosha National park Namibia!!

Check out this video we put together from Etosha National Park 🙂

Once again thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more African Adventure blogs coming soon.

In the mean time check out my other posts from this adventure 😊


Table Mountain

A day trip to Robben Island

Highlanders Wine Farm

Gariep River Canoeing

Fish River Canyon

Canon Roadhouse, Namibia

Dune 45, Sossusvlei Namibia

Solitaire, Namibia

Quad bike riding in Swakopmund

Spitzkoppe mountains Namibia

Waterholes, West Etosha National Park

Etosha National Park Namibia

Etosha Night Safari

Ghanzi Bushmen

Flight over the Okavango Delta

Okavango Delta, Botswana

Chobe River Cruise

Chobe National Park – Botswana Africa.

Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe

Cape Town – South Africa